Heber Planning Commission Considers Adding New Zone

Three yellow circles indicate potential locations to implement the proposed new Gateway Zones. Kollman Farms development would be in the circle furthest to the South.

Heber City

Heber City Planning Commission is holding a public hearing tomorrow evening regarding a zone creation that would allow for the building of 190 residential units in the southern portion of town. An online petition to stop the zone change and the development has over 400 signatures.

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The proposed Kollman Farms subdivision will be located at the corner of Airport Road and US Highway 40. The nearly 11-acre subdivision stretches south adjacent to the Mountain Valley RV Park. While bordering an existing subdivision to the west and highway 40 to the east.

56 of the 190 residential units in the proposed development would be located above commercial buildings. The development has planned for nearly 13,000 sq. feet of commercial space.

The proposed zone change comes after Fig Development approached the city in October of 2018 wanting to build the mixed-use development. City council directed Fig Development to the planning commission. Here’s Heber City Planning Director Tony Kohler.

“Some of the basic direction that the city council gave us was develop a new zone that elevates the affordable housing contribution by the developer." Kohler explained, "The council also wanted to make sure that whatever was done was compatible with conjoining neighborhoods and also wanted to make sure that we had a commercial component to make sure we had a balanced tax base.”

Heber resident Marianne Allen started an online petition to stop the creation of the new Gateway Corridor Zone and Kollman Farms.

The petition says in part that the zone will “allow some of the highest density apartments/townhomes in all of Heber. Wingpointe is 12 units per acre, this would be 17.5 units per acre.”

The petition also says, “We want to see responsible development and planning that enhances and preserves the beauty and open space characteristics that Heber City is known for.”

The area is currently zoned as C-2 Commercial, Kohler says that zoning could still allow for high density developments.

“Commercial zones already permit mixed-use." Kohler said, "The one thing it does not permit is residential uses on the main floor. The commercial zone also does not have a density cap and it has a five story limit. So the amount of residential that the developer could do in a commercial mixed-use development in the current C-2 zone would likely exceed the permitted densities of the Gateway Corridor Zone. So some of the benefits that result from the Gateway Corridor Zone is there is a three-story maximum height. There is a cap on density at 20 units per acre.”

The zone change would also require an increase in affordable housing units from 10% in C2 Commercial to 20% in the Gateway Corridor Zone. Kohler also notes the zone would allow restrictions on certain types of commercial businesses, such as auto sales and gas stations among others.

The city staff report also noted that the Gateway Corridor Zoning could be implemented in two other areas in the city. One being on the north end of town near Smiths Marketplace and the other in the western part of town as Midway Lane comes into Heber.

The public hearing regarding the zone change is the first agenda item on the Tuesday planning commission meeting at 6:00 pm in the Heber City Office building.

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